Women Who Serve

If ever there were a case for "last woman standing," Caroline Wozniacki has made it. With her third round win at the China Open, the young woman known as both the Great Dane and the Golden Retriever--but best known by her non-canine nickname of Sunshine--is now ranked as the number 1 player in the world. Wozniacki, who doesn't hit many winners, but who plays stunning defensive tennis, has worked very hard and played very hard. Some say she has over-played, but--so far--there doesn't seem to be any particular damage done. Her fitness is excellent, and it's obvious that she has fine-tuned her game during the past year.

While former world number 1 Serena Williams was walking around Miami in an orthopedic boot because of shards of glass that cut her foot tendon, Wozniacki was playing, and winning a lot; she has already won five titles this season. Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin, and Agnieszka Radwanska are done for the season. Serena is coming back soon, but hasn't played in a while. Former top players Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic currently look like shadows of their formers tennis selves. (Jankovic's story is especially frustrating: She did all the right things--finally improving her serve and impressively increasing her aggression--but after going through some personal crises--hasn't been the same.) Elena Dementieva seems to have lost her ability to close matches. Sam Stosur's brief glory is fading before our eyes. And then there's Victoria Azarenka, whose physical fragility has been her undoing.

There is also Maria Sharapova, from whom we have seen flashes of her pre-surgery self, but who sometimes appears lost on the same courts where she used to look totally in command.

Wozniacki, of course, isn't quite the "last" woman standing. Three other players--Vera Zvonareva, Francesca Schiavone and Kim Clijsters--have re-defined their careers in the last several months, and are now among the elite on the tour. Clijsters and Schiavone have won majors; Wozniacki and Zvonareva have come close. And it's only a matter of time before Williams gets back into the groove.

Williams, Clijsters, Wozniacki, Zvonareva, Schiavone. One of them will probably win the WTA Championships. But what happens after that? Will Wozniacki finally win a major, or will she succumb to the same world number 1 pressure that appears to have weakened the confidence of both Safina and Jankovic? It would be nice to see both Safina and Jankovic find their way back, but we cannot count on that. And with the exception of Wozniacki, no one appears to be standing in the wings, ready to jump onto the big stage.

There are other questions that will not be answered until 2011: Can someone help Victoria Azarenka become less physically vulnerable? Will Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova improve her fitness, get over her service troubles, and become a top 10 player? How much more wear and tear can Venus Williams' knee take? What can we expect from Justine Henin when the new season begins?

Considering how the order of things changed this year, it is probably futile to make predictions about 2011.

"John is more than entitled to his opinion, and he is a well-respected leader in our sport, but I hope when someone makes comments he's also looking at the data."

You don't have to be a hundred percent fit to win a major; Serena Williams is living proof of that. "What parts of you are wrapped?" a reporter asked her at one of the majors. "What parts of me aren't?" she replied. On the other hand, Williams is kind of special when it comes to not letting things like chronic injuries and hot spots get in the way of her winning trophies.

Right now, as we approach the U.S. Open, those enjoying good health (as far as anyone knows) include such players as Caroline Wozniacki, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Francesca Schiavone, Li Na, Marion Bartoli (imagine that), and Agnieszka Radwanska.

But good health isn't everything. Sabine Lisicki and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, for example, have recovered from their injuries, but have had very little match play to prepare for the Open.

Then there are the injured, who may or may not be feeling good enough to compete at a high level. Defending champion Kim Clijsters recently injured her hip, though she says she is now feeling better. Likewise, Sam Stosur says she has totally recovered from a case of sore right arm. Dinara Safina is--for now--pain-free, and one can only hope that she remains so.

Flavia Pennetta injured her foot today, Maria Sharapova recently sustained a foot injury, and Jelena Jankovic has a not-as-recent ankle sprain, whose status is unknown. Venus Williams says she's ready to compete, but she's having knee problems, again. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has been struggling with a hip injury, and just the other day complained of shoulder problems, also, though she has begun hitting again. Ana Ivanovic, who may or not be in a state of comeback, has injured her ankle. Elena Dementieva--a perennial U.S. Open contender--tore her calf muscle during the French Open, and it's still bothering her.

Hard courts are tough on the joints, so we may see some our favorite players at a loss to produce their best tennis, or perhaps at a loss to play several consecutive matches. We could see some retirements, too. There are also players like Bartoli and Victoria Azarenka, who are somewhat injury-prone under any circumstances.

The U.S. Open field is never an injury-free field, but this year seems to be especially bad. With both Serena Williams and Justine Henin unable to compete, and with bad ankles, hips, knees, and feet pervading the top of the rankings, the most we can hope for is that the best players can press on, even while somewhat injured.

The New York Times published a feature today on how power has changed the women's game. Michael Kimmelman looks at racquet technology, power training, and the influence the Williams sisters have had in shaping the tour. This kind of story has been written many times, but Kimmelman makes the current story more personal and anecdotal than some other writers have. All in all, it's a good read.

(Kudos to Kimmelman, too, for stating that Stacey Allaster is a chairwoman, despite her own failure to identify herself as female in her official title. I have come to expect a lot of sexism from the Times, so this was a nice surprise.)

The slide shows on power and hard hitting are quite unusual, and I wish I knew what the Times photo editors were attempting. Be prepared to laugh at both the music and the costumes. And why on Earth would Sam Stosur's backhand be featured instead of her forehand?

Having just watched this, the story only made me long for less power and more art and grace. The participants in the 1985 U.S. Open final had enough "power" for this viewer.

The withdrawal of the world's number 1 player from the U.S. Open would be unfortunate under any circumstances, but placed in the context of the current run of injuries on the tour, Serena Williams' announcement simply turns a bad scenario into a worse one. Justine Henin, who has an injured elbow, was already out of the Open, Maria Sharapova hurt her heel in Cincinnati, and today, defending champion Kim Clijsters hurt her hip in Montreal.

Sam Stosur has a wild card into the New Haven main draw, but she had to skip both Cincinnati and Montreal because of a sore arm. Venus Williams has knee problems again. And Ana Ivanovic--who was just starting to look like herself again--injured her ankle in Cincinnati. As of this writing, she is hopeful, but not certain, that she'll play in the U.S. Open.

It doesn't end there. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez is just returning from a knee injury layoff, so New Haven will be her only U.S. Open warm-up. The often-injured Sabine Lisicki recently returned to the tour and has had very little match play, and today, Wimbledon doubles champion Vania King retired in Montreal, though I don't know the reason for the retirement. World number 2 Jelena Jankovic recently hurt her ankle.

The U.S. Open is a huge event, and it doesn't bode well that so many good players are either injured or are just returning from injury layoffs. Among the world's top five players, only Caroline Wozniacki is known to be totally healthy, having recovered from an ankle injury she sustained in Charleston. I say "known to be" because I have no idea what Jankovic's health status is at the moment. Here's hoping that she, Stosur, Venus Williams, and Ivanovic will all be feeling fit by August 30.

Citing the "success" of on-court coaching on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, commentator, former pro, and former coach Brad Gilbert (Andre Agassi, Andy Murray) called for on-court coaching in the ATP today. In agreement with him was Darren Cahill, who also said that on-court coaching has been "very successful" for the women's tour. Finally, Patric McEnroe also agreed that the ATP should have on-court coaching.

Though I cannot imagine the ATP going in that direction, it was disheartening to once again hear praise for the disastrous WTA experiment that eventually became a terrible reality.

Kamakshi Tandon takes a thoughtful look at the tour's injury problem.

Women's Tennis Blog reports that EleVen is returning soon.

Here is an interview with Johanna Larsson.

Ana Ivanovic has been given a wild card to play in the Pilot Pen tournament in New Haven.

Sweat a lot when you play? You're not alone.

Anastasia Rodionova and Cara Black will be doubles partners in Cincinnati.

I had planned to talk about this topic some time in the future, but it has popped up on its own on the blog, so I'm talking about it now: Who is the greatest player of all time?

The answer: No one.

There are two reasons that there can be no legitimate "best":

1. How could people--even experts--agree on the criteria, and the heirarchy of importance of those criteria? Who won the most majors? Who had the most talent? Who had the best winning average? Who won the most majors and titles? Who won the most majors of all kinds? Names that fit those categories include--but are not limited to--Margaret Court, Steffi Graf, Maureen Connolly, Suzanne Lenglen, Chris Evert, and Martina Navratilova.

2. Generations cannot be compared. Players who played three majors on grass cannot be compared with players who play only one major on (slower) grass. Players who used wooden racquets are a universe away from players who use today's racquets. The training techniques are different, the shots themselves are different. Even the rules are different.

And then there is the matter of the importance given to the majors. Back when the Australian Open was played during the Christmas holidays, it was considered legitimate to skip it. Players who skipped it, of course, did not wind up with the winnning records they could have had. "Could've, would've, should've" doesn't count, a commenter on another blog said to me when I brought this up.

But it does in cases like this--because the culture of tennis was different then. Skipping the Australian Open was a common expectation. If a player skips a major today, of course we can say "She made a choice and she'll pay for it." But years ago, skipping a major was not unusual and not unexpected because majors didn't have the type of value they have now. Chris Evert, at the prime of her clay court powers, skipped three French Opens in order to play World Team Tennis. There is every reason to believe she would have won all three of them. But at that time, the value of the majors just wasn't the same as it is now (obviously, WTT play was permitted while the French Open was in progress.)

Comparing tennis cultures across time isn't so much a matter as comparing apples with oranges as it is comparing apples with tablecloths. It makes no logical sense.

I also don't understand the current obsession with determining who is the greatest of all time. This seems to go on more regarding the ATP because both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are playing in the same generation. But the same arguments apply: Who can determine which criteria matter and what their order of importance is? And how can one possibly compare the tennis culture of 1950 with the tennis culture of 1970 with the tennis culture of today?

Finally, why does there have to be a "greatest of all time"? Even if we suddenly all agreed on one (and we never would, which is as it should be), someone else would come along later and contend for that title. Nothing in life stays the same--why should tennis?

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has not stopped in San Diego for two years. Consequently, the women have had only four tournaments to play in the U.S. Open Series. But Mercury Insurance has signed on to sponsor the event, which is held at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California. The Mercury Insurance Open will begin in July 31. Already entered are Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Daniela Hantuchova, and Ana Ivanovic.

Actually, I'm frequently in that mood, given the culture of the tour and the state of broadcasting. But here are some things that are getting to me right now:

1. Why--no matter what browser you use--is it excruciatingly difficult to do a head-to-head or player search on the tour site?

2. Why is Tennis TV still so inconsistent with Firefox?

3. Why does Blogger not address any of the significantly irritating problems that exist with the new post editor? I couldn't get a staff member to reply even one time in the help group.

4. Is the SuperFans blogging staff going for irony, or is the site really geared to adolescent girls circa 1995?

5. Why has the tour stopped selling logo gear? The old stock--what little there was of it--has been depleted, and nothing new is offered. I suppose that now, there won't be anything until the "Sony Ericsson" is removed.

Dinara Safina has finally returned to the tour. Struggling for months with a back injury, Safina is playing in Stuttgart this week, as is Svetlana Kuznetsova, who has been out with an injured shoulder. Caroline Wozniacki, who turned her ankle in Charleston, is also playing in Stuttgart, and Victoria Azarenka--who had to retire in Charleston because of a hip strain--is playing in the Porsche Grand Prix, too.

There remain plenty of injuries to go around, however, among top and near-top players. Both Venus and Serena Williams have knee problems, Kim Clijsters tore a foot muscle in one version, and--in another version--broke some bones in her foot. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova withdrew from Charleston because of a left foot injury, and withdrew from Stuttgart because of a right foot injury. Justine Henin broke the little finger on her left hand, which--if one is right-handed with a one-handed backhand--is not the disaster it might be for someone else.

Jelena Jankovic has been playing with an injured wrist, Sabine Lisicki's ankle is still injured, Dominika Cibulkova has a hip strain, and Alisa Kleybanova is out with plantar fasciitis. And then there's Maria Sharapova, who is dealing with a bone bruise in her right elbow.

What with the injuries, the rehabs and the recovery times, the prospect of having healthy and/or prepared players at the French Open isn't looking too good. Of course, that could change. Some players have already resumed playing, and others may resume next week in Rome; Serena Williams has already announced that she will play in Italy.

The French Open is my favorite major, so I hope that most of the top players--and top clay players--will be there. But, as we witnessed in Fed Cup this past weekend, something can go in just one moment. It is probably too much to ask that Clijsters can make it to Paris, but I hope that the others can.

Venus Williams has still not made a decision about playing in the Fed Cup semifinal the last weekend in April. “I don't think [USA captain Mary Joe Fernandez] wants to talk to me about Fed Cup right now," Williams said. "Wouldn't be the best answer right now. I think she has been smart enough not ask me about Fed Cup." Miami finalist Williams said she wants to see how she feels physically following playing every round of the Sony Ericsson Open.

Chris Oddo writes about the disappearance of the one-handed backhand in women's tennis.

What becomes of top-ranked junior players?

Andrea Petkovic had to withdraw from Marbella because of hay fever.

Something I should have mentioned earlier: Tennis TV has enhanced its interface to permit the viewing of a small desktop screen. Also added is a section wherein one can view ball placement.

The Heroes Among Us program is again open for nominations.

Tonight in Miami, 14th seed Kim Clijsters and wild card Justine Henin played the second semifinal match of the day, but you could just as well refer to it as 2 1/2 hours of relentless agony, interrupted by tennis. We learned some things from this match, specifically: 1. Henin's resolve to be more aggressive can be kept in check by the right opponent, 2. Henin needs to keep working on her serve, and 3. Clijsters is just as prone to go all Goolagong in this career as she was in her first one.

Clijsters took control early in the match, pinning Henin to the baseline, hitting repeatedly to her backhand, and using her serve and forehand effectively to get a 6-2 win in just half an hour. She then went up 3-0 in the second set, and had a chance to break Henin and go up 4-0...and then it happened--that thing Clijsters does. She just went away. In the fifth game, she double-faulted three times, and before you could say "Kim won the match in straight sets," it was 3-all. Clijsters pulled herself together by mid-set, and again, it looked as though there was likely to be a straight set victory. But by this time, Henin's confidence had increased, and she was a little more steady. She broke Clijsters at 5-all, and when she served for the set, she saved two break points. Clijsters saved a set point, however, and got a break point when Henin double-faulted. She then converted that break point, forcing a tiebreak.

Henin went up 5-1 in the tiebreak, as Clijsters--looking as tight as she had the entire match--couldn't seem to do anything right. Henin went on to win that tiebreak 7-3, then went up 2-0 right away in the third set. But if you thought Henin was going to run away with the momentum, you needed to think again. Clijsters broke her back, and then--at 2-all--Clijsters broke Henin at love. When Henin served at 2-4, Clijsters had another break point, but could not convert it; instead, she was broken back, and it was 4-all.

The players then exchanged breaks, and Clijsters, serving at 5-6, 40-30, double-faulted again. But--for the first time in the match--she successfully scooped a volley from her feet to create an ad point. There was a  second deuce, then Clijsters held.

In the second tiebreak, despite going down an early mini-break, Clijsters looked great, but failed to convert three match points at 6-3. She converted on her fourth match point, however, on Henin's serve, to win the tiebreak 8-6. The last two shots from Clijsters' racquet were appropriately thrilling--a dribble-over backhand volley and another forehand winner on match point.

Clijsters made 63 unforced errors, and Henin made 44. They double-faulted 18 times between them, and there was a total of 12 breaks. But this was just part of the story. There was also some thrilling shot-making. Clijsters used her backhand-inside-out forehand combination to hit a number of smart winners, and--as always--Henin fought back to the last moment. There were times, in the third set, that she even displayed some of the angles that confounded Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round.

But the real story of this match is that Kim Clijsters was winning it handily and then went to pieces. As a rule, a player who does that when Justine Henin is on the other side of the net is a player on her way to the next stop. But Clijsters, to her credit, fought as hard as Henin, and--when it mattered the most--she put the recent past behind her and won the hard way.

There was, of course, another semifinal match played today. 3rd seed Venus Williams, with considerably less drama, defeated 13th seed Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-4. Bartoli's second serve was nowhere to be found, and she was broken four times.

Williams and Clijsters will compete in the final on Saturday.

I have never been a fan of on-court coaching, but I have tried to be open-minded about it. There are just too many things wrong with it, though, for me to support this trend; indeed, I want it to go away.

One of the main arguments against on-court coaching is that it is the antithesis of what tennis is all about--the challenge of one (in singles) individual--alone--figuring out what to do against an opponent. Though some may perceive this as a purist concept--so what? The image of the tennis player on her own, mentally and physically equipped to make fast decisions and execute well-timed shots, is an image that suits the sport.

Then there is the gender issue. The ATP does not have on-court coaching, so having the women get help makes them look especially dependent. And--as Tom Tebbutt commented last spring (the editorial is, unfortunately, no longer available) in The Globe and Mail, it is disturbing to see middle-aged men--often fathers--coming onto the court to tell women and girls what to do. I agree. And while I know that the Sony Ericsson WTA tour gives lip service to equality, when it comes to action, sexism is the order of the day. Having older male authority figures come onto the court to direct young females is a disturbing image indeed. The fact that there are so few female coaches (that's a discussion for another time) doesn't help.

Then there is the distasteful issue of microphones. Why on Earth would a coach want everyone to hear what he is telling his player, and why would a player want everyone to hear it? Isn't anything private? And there is also the matter of different coaches and players speaking different languages.

The Sony Ericssson WTA Tour defends on-court coaching by saying that the "fans want it." What fans are these? I have never met anyone who watches women's tennis and likes on-court coaching. And even if such fans do exist, pleasing them via a system that makes women look weak and tennis look tacky should not be an option.

The annual Sony Ericsson WTA tour awards ceremony was held in Miami today, and the Player of the Year award went to world number 1 Serena Williams. She and sister Venus also won the Doubles Team of the Year award. Here are the other winners:

Comeback Player of the Year--Kim Clijsters
Karen Krantzcke Sports(wo)manship Award--Kim Clijsters
Newcomer of the Year--Melanie Oudin
Most Improved Player--Yanina Wickmayer
Player Service Award--Liezel Huber

Fans voted Elena Dementieva the Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year, and Venus and Serena Williams Fan Favorite Doubles Team of the Year.

1. In an imaginary draw, who--if anyone--would take Justine Henin out of the French Open?

2. If Alisa Kleybanova got fitter and calmed down (i.e., stopped playing high-risk tennis almost every moment), how dangerous would she be?

3. Will Maria Sharapova ever win Wimbledon again?

4. If Zheng Jie can hire a service coach and get a significantly improved serve in just two months, why on Earth don't other players on the tour hire service coaches?

5. Can Caroline Wozniacki take over the number 1 position this year?

6. Will Victoria Azarenka win a major, and--if so--about how long will it take her to do so?

7. Will real photos of the top players ever appear on the tour website and in tour ads again, or are we stuck forever with faux-pinup cut-and-paste Stepford champions?

8. Remember Anna Chakvetadze?

9. Does the ranking system need to be revised yet again?

10. Why don't we, as fans and bloggers, get organized and campaign for a stop to on-court coaching?

Earlier today, a reader turned me on to the latest development in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour sponsorship negotiations. Given the problems that Sony Ericcson is having, I assumed the company would drop the tour at the end of its contract, but instead, a creative solution has been reached.

The final ten months of the current contract has been voided, and a new three-year contract has been written. Under the terms of this contract, the annual fee has been cut by about 40%; in fact, the $16 million currently owed to the tour has been decreased to $10 million. Also under the terms of the new contract, the name "Sony Ericsson" will be dropped from both the name of the tour and from the year-end championships.

In order to make the deal more equitable, Sony Ericsson has dropped some its requirements, including the number of tickets it gets for tour events. The company has also dropped its requirement that former players attend certain tour events, so the tour will no longer have to pay those players appearance fees.

The name "Sony Ericsson" will still appear on netposts, and players will still be required to wear Sony Ericsson patches.

Apparently, the key negotiation meeting was held in October. In attendance from the tour were communications executive Andrew Walker, WTA founder Billie Jean King, Venus Williams, and Melanie Oudin.

Hammond, Louisiana--where the local strawberries are some of the best in the world, and the ball tosses are never funky.

I spent the last four days in Hammond, attending the Tangipahoa/Loeb Law Firm $25k Tennis Classic, and not once did I see a truly errant ball toss. Only twice did I see players re-toss the ball. Granted, I wasn't there for the qualifying rounds or the first round, but I saw several players, and they all served competently. A few--like Jamie Hampton (up until the final, anyway) served extremely well.


I had never attended a challenger tournament, and didn't really know what to expect. I was eager to see Heather Watson and Zhang Shuai, but I was also happy to watch any of the matches. After I had been there a couple of days, I was struck by the fact that serving the ball was not a big deal the way it is on the WTA tour. There were double faults, of course, but not really that many.

Jelena Jankovic, who injured her back in Australia while experimenting with a new service motion, is in doubt for Fed Cup this weekend.

Svetlana Kuznetsova has replaced Ekaterina Makarova on the Russian Fed Cup team. Shamil Tarpishchev-1, Kuznetsova-0.

For the 5th consecutive year, SMASH magazine will sponsor the SMASH Junior Cup, presented by Dunlop Sport. The event, held in Charleston, is one of only two junior events in the U.S. that gives tops juniors a chance to compete for a wild card invitation into a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour premier event. The winner of the Girls 18 division of the SMASH Junior Cup gets a wild card into the 2010 Family Circle Cup qualifying draw. The tournament will be held February 20-22. Last year's winner was Alison Riske.

File under "things I wish I didn't know": Ari Fleischer is doing media consulting for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

Maria Sharapova is part of the Nike "Lace Up, Save Lives" campaign. 100% of the profits from sale of Nike's red laces goes to programs that provide prevention and treatment of AIDS in Africa. (via Women's Tennis Blog)

Charles Bricker thinks that we currently have the strongest top 10 in the history of women's tennis.

A proposed 74-court tennis court complex in Rome, Georgia would be the largest in the world.

Drop over to WTA Backspin and take a look at 2010 Intriguing Questions.

The Philadelphia Freedoms have lost their Advanta sponsorship.

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has received written confirmation that Shahar Peer will be allowed to compete in Dubai next month.